IMMOBILIZATION OF ACTIVATED CARBON ON ALGINATE BEADS AS DECOLORIZATION AGENT AND ITS CHARACTERIZATION FOR BLACK LIQUOR WASTEWATERAjeng Arum Sari, Andreas, Fathmasari Fitrianingsih, Muhammad Nurdin and Adelia Anju AsmaraAbstract The production process of bioethanol made from oil palm empty bunches produced black liquor which was massive and potential to become a source of water pollution in the environment as it was untreated first. Therefore, conversion of black liquor sludge becomes activated carbon immobilized with alginate is a promising alternative method to modify the structure and improve the capacity of decolorization agents. The aim of this study was the utilization of activated carbon (AC)-alginate beads for repeatedly Decolorization agent and identification of its characteristics in black liquor wastewater. The decolorization of black liquor wastewater by using AC-alginate beads reached 93.77% in the optimum of contact time 4 h, 2 g of activated carbon mass inside AC-alginate beads. Moreover, the capacity adsorption reached up to 344.827 mg.g-1 and fulfilled the Freundlich isotherm with thermodynamic parameters of ÃG° = - 0,589983 kJ.mol-1. By delusion process utilizing methanol, AC-alginate beads were able to reuse repeatedly as much as 3 times with a maximum percentage of decolorization from the 1st to the 3rd application, which was 93.77, 77.84, and 61.91%, respectively. According to FTIR analysis, AC-alginate beads had the functional groups C-O-O, O-H, C-H, and -C-CH3 which played a role in reducing the color of black liquor. |